Voices of Liberty: Essential American Revolution Quotes

The American Revolution ignited a flame of liberty, and these essential quotes from its key figures illuminate the enduring principles that shaped a nation.

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JOHN ADAMS

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"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."

"As good government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make laws. The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few of the most wise and good."

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

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"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."

"Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it."

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

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"Every problem is an opportunity in disguise."

"A government of laws, and not of men"

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"I read my eyes out and can't read half enough. The more one reads the more one sees we have to read."

"Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence, than the body can live and move without a soul."

"It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand."

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws."

“Always stand on principle...even if you stand alone”

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JAMES MADISON

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"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

"A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."

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"Pure democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

"We may define a republic to be … a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior."

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own."

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"The means of defense against. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home."

"The advancement of science and the diffusion of information [is] the best aliment to true liberty."

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

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"Philosophy is common sense with big words."

"The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted."

"Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment, without which it instantly expires."

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"In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights."

"If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote."

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THOMAS JEFFERSON

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"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition."

"I own I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."

"The principle of the Constitution is that of a separation of Legislative, Executive and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, it is clearly the spirit of the Constitution …"

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"I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master."

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned — this is the sum of good government."

"I cannot live without books."

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom."

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"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act!"

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others."

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

"On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock."

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"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."

"I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."

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JAMES WILSON

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"Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness."

"Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. Far from being rivals or enemies religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistance."

"In matters of a civil nature, that system works itself pure by rules drawn from the fountain of justice : in matters of a political nature, it works itself pure by rules drawn from the fountain of freedom."

"The executive power is better to be trusted when it has no screen. Sir, we have a responsibility in the person of our President; he cannot act improperly, and hide either his negligence or inattention; he cannot roll upon any other person the weight of..."

"Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home."

"Mankind's moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped in one's hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul."

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ALEXANDER HAMILTON

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"The propriety of a law, in a constitutional light, must always be determined by the nature of the powers upon which it is founded."

"Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many."

"A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous."

"The art of reading is to skip judiciously."

"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one."

"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint."

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

"The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion."

"Vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty."

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

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"The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy."

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."

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"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."

"A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned"

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"Well done is better than well said."

"Lost time is never found again."

"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."

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"Honesty is the best policy."

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing."

"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."

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"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

"Time is money."

"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech."

"To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions."

"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

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GEORGE WASHINGTON

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"I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery."

"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."

"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."

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"But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with."

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation."

"The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph."

"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble."

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"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

"Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company."

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JOHN JAY

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"It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion, loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused."

"Among the strange things of this world, nothing seems more strange than that men pursuing happiness should knowingly quit the right and take a wrong road, and frequently do what their judgments neither approve nor prefer.”

"Among the many objects to which a wise and free people find it necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their safety seems to be the first."

"It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it."

"Those who own the country ought to govern it."

"We must go home to be happy, and our home is not in this world. Here we have nothing to do but our duty."

"Distrust naturally creates distrust, and by nothing is good will and kind conduct more speedily changed."

"The wise and the good never form the majority of any large society and it seldom happens that their measures are uniformly adopted.... [All that wise and good men can do is] to persevere in doing their duty to their country and leave the consequences to him who made men only; neither elated by success, however great, nor discouraged by disappointments however frequent or mortifying."

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SAMUEL ADAMS

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"The constitution shall never be construed...to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

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"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”

"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt."

"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty."